James Rhodes is a concert pianist and makes television programmes for Channel 4. He tours extensively and has recorded five albums for Signum and Warner Brothers. His website is www.jamesrhodes.tv and he is on YouTube at www.youtube.com/jamesrhodepianist.

The secret of spirituality is a butterfly: an exclusive interview with a self-help guru

I recently was granted a rare interview with the renowned spiritual guru F. Night Sunbeam. His new book Find Your Own Butterfly is out now.

JR: First of all, thank you for agreeing to meet with me and for doing this interview.

FNS: Yes. But we are not really meeting each other are we? We are all connected as one soul and so in a way we are simply one person, sitting here with tea and experiencing the unity of consciousness that binds humanity.

JR: You rarely, if ever, give interviews. Why is that?

FNS: Think of it as if you owned the most beautiful and rare butterfly. You keep the butterfly under your hat. And then one day someone asks to see it, and as you lift up your hat to show them, what happens?

JR: The butterfly flies away?

FNS: Exactly! The gift of spirituality is the butterfly. Enlightenment cannot be shown to any who ask for it. It must be searched for and discovered by oneself. Seek your own butterfly.

JR: You seem very content. Do you ever get depressed?

FNS: No one gets depressed. Just as no one is happy.

JR: Can you explain that a bit more for me?

FNS: Like clouds that scud across the sky are our emotions. One can say 'I am experiencing a depression, or I am experiencing happiness', but the 'I' can never be happy or depressed. These emotions will always pass. It is the witness to the emotions that is the great 'I'. Be the witness. It is immortal. It is infinite. It is 'I'.

JR: May I ask you about money?

FNS: There is no question to which you do not know the answer.

JR: OK. But just in case, you seem to have accumulated great wealth from your books and talks. Some have argued that making money from those in distress who are seeking answers is not entirely ethical.

FNS: I am not hearing a question.

JR: Is making money from those in distress who are seeking answers ethical?

FNS: Money is fluid. It is a symbol. A wealthy man who is sick is just as sick as a poor man who is sick. My gift is freely available to the poor of India and the rich of the West. I make no distinction between the two as we are all one person, one humanity, one soul. We are all both rich and poor at once.

JR: So you have done work in the poorer countries of the world?

FNS: My work is universal. It is timeless. I may have come to this hotel [The Dorchester] in a private plane that belongs to a client of mine, but I would be just as at peace in a shanty town. My message and my purpose is the same. Wealth is there in all places if you know where to look for it. It is within us. All of us, just as blood flows through our bodies, so too does wealth consciousness.

JR: Do those people in shanty towns agree with you?

FNS: They and I are the same. Therefore if I am in agreement with myself, so too are they.

JR: OK. To finish, as I know time is short, may I ask you the question the majority of our readers would want to ask?

FNS: Time is not short. Time is infinite. There is no past and no future. The Earth plane is timeless and not linear. As we are sitting here, at the same time, so too are we in our homes, at our jobs, with our loved ones. But yes, do please ask.

JR: What is the secret to living a happy and fulfilling life?

FNS: As my teacher, the great Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche would say when asked this very question:

[a rather long pause]

JR: I’m sorry I don’t quite follow.

[FNS holds up one finger and opens his mouth in an expression of surprise]

JR: Still not with you. I’m sorry.

FNS: I forgive you. The answer to your question is there. It is in the silence. In the expectation of an answer, in the stillness that speaks. I will be explaining it in more detail in my new book.

Find Your Own Butterfly is out on Dec 1, RRP £19.99 or as an unabridged audiobook with pan flute accompaniment RRP £29.99. Mr Sunbeam is also giving private 'guidance sessions', price upon application.